


Forever

by AleishaDreams



Category: Free!
Genre: Children, Children Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2014-12-07
Packaged: 2018-02-28 12:45:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2733038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AleishaDreams/pseuds/AleishaDreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His mother had told him that he would have tons of fun in this new place.</p><p>But now that he’s in this so called new place, he doesn’t understand how he is supposed to have this “fun” she spoke of so much. It’s full of screaming kids, kids that are running everywhere, kids that are loud and annoying and apparently doesn’t get the importance of personal space because they hug each other as if nothing.</p><p>Haruka Nanase is a three years old child and this is his first day of kindergarten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forever

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based on the one I made for the MakoHaru Week of Day 3: Holding Hands.
> 
> I wanted to make something more elaborated and I totally fell in love with little Haruka and little Makoto.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

His mother had told him that he would have tons of fun in this new place.

But now that he’s in this so called new place, he doesn’t understand how he is supposed to have this “fun” she spoke of so much. It’s full of screaming kids, kids that are running everywhere, kids that are loud and annoying and apparently doesn’t get the importance of personal space because they hug each other as if nothing.

Haruka Nanase is a three years old child and this is his first day of kindergarten.

When his mother talked about fun, he had imagined there would be television, for example, full of cartoons of fishes and water. Maybe a little pool like the one he has at home that his father sometimes fills with cool water to play for the rest of the day when the summer’s sun is too hot to deal with. He would even accept simple stuffed animals.

But no, all the room has to offer is a bunch of annoying kids.

So when he sits alone on a table – praying that nobody pays attention to him – he starts to look around the room. Maybe there is something to use to entertain himself for the rest of the day in here, by now he would accept almost anything – except talking with the other kids, of course –.

To his surprise, he spots a kid with brown hair silently sitting in another table at the other side of the classroom. He doesn’t look annoyed like Haruka is, but he isn’t talkative or laughing as the other kids are. In fact, if Haruka has to guess, he looks kind of… scared?

The kid is fretting on his chair and moving his little hands nervously. His head is down, looking directly to the table as if someone has warned him to not look up because, if he does, something awful could happen.

Maybe Haruka stared too much because the kid then looks his way. He has the brightest and greenest eyes Haruka has ever seen in his life – not that he has had a long life, but still – but the surprising thing is that those eyes get even brighter when the kid smiles at Haruka, cocking his head a little.

Haru immediately looks away.

But a second later, he looks again towards the kid who isn’t facing him anymore. Now the kid is looking around, maybe he hadn’t seen the room before because he was too busy looking at the table – the table isn’t that interesting anyways, concludes Haruka –.

Some minutes later, an adult woman enters the room with a big smile and claps softly her hands. She tells the other kids – the annoying ones – to please sit down because class is going to start and they’ll have tons of fun.

Haruka knows that’s a lie. There aren’t any little pools in this room.

Everything starts with a little game. The woman – who has requested to be called “Miss” – asks them to sit on a circle on an empty space inside the classroom, so they do, and then she pulls out of nowhere a yellow and big ball. She explains that she will pass the ball to someone and that someone has to say their name, their favorite color, and their favorite food. All of this is so everyone learn each other’s names and what they like, so everyone can become friends.

The Miss passes the ball to the girl in front of her. Her name is Yoko, her favorite color is blue, and her favorite food is chocolate ice cream – “That’s not food!” a boy says “Of course it is!” Yoko responds – then the girl passes it to another boy and so on.

Being honest, Haru doesn’t care at all about any of the kids in here. It’s not like he’s interested on making friends with any of them. They are so loud – what purpose had that kid by yelling to Yoko that ice cream isn’t food? None – but he couldn’t help to notice how his ears perk up when the ball is passed to the kid of brown hair and green eyes.

“Uhm—“ he looks nervous and his little hands won’t leave the flat surface of the ball, and so won’t his eyes “My… my…”

“C’mon! Hurry up!” the same kid that yelled badly about ice cream – Haru thinks his name is Daichi – exclaims with an exasperated voice.

“Now, Daichi” the Miss tries to calm him down, she’s smiling but her voice clearly has a tune of soft demand “He’s just a little nervous, don’t be impatient”

Again, maybe Haru stared too much because those green eyes once again are looking at him. It’s just a fraction of a second, but then the kid is smiling.

“My name is Makoto” his voice sounds a little bit cracky, he’s still nervous “My favorite color is green, and my favorite food is green curry”

“Very good, Makoto!” the Miss congratulates him with a big smile and a little clap, which brings a smile of his own on Makoto “Now, pass it to someone who hasn’t presented themselves yet”

In a blink of an eye, the yellow ball is on Haruka’s hands and now everyone is looking at him and waiting for him to talk. He turns his eyes towards Makoto, who is also looking directly at him with a bright smile and Haru could swear a whole universe is inside those green eyes.

“Haruka, Blue, Mackerel” he says briefly and promptly passes the ball to the next kid, not even looking at them.

After all the kids presented themselves, the Miss gets up and applauds inviting everyone to join in the clapping. All of them, except for Haru, start to clap and some of them even jump a little.

“Alright, everyone, how about we make pretty pictures?” the woman asked and some children once again jumped excited while nodding “Ok! Then let’s go grab some crayons and paper, shall we?”

She offers them a box of wood, inside of it are a lot of little cups with crayons of all the colors. The instruction is to pick one cup and go to sit so the Miss can give you a big piece of paper, so Haru does exactly that and sits on his place at the far corner of the room.

What he doesn’t count on is that the kid of big green eyes would follow him.

“Can I sit with you?” he asks him when Haruka locks eyes with him.

Why is he asking such a thing? It’s not like it’s prohibited to sit wherever he feels like it. And it’s not like Haruka owns this specific table with its chairs. Neither of the furniture in here has his name on it.

So Haruka slightly nods his head and he isn’t sure how such a small gesture can bring such a happy smile on someone.

“It’s Haruka, right?” he continues to talk as he sits down, on Haru’s right side.

“Mmh” is everything he replies for confirmation.

The adult woman gets close to them and places two large piece of paper in front of each other.

“You can draw whatever you want, boys” she instructs with that perpetual smile of hers before leaving.

“So” Makoto continues to talk “Haru-chan, what are you going to draw?”

Haruka cringes a bit because of the change in his name, but whatever, maybe Makoto will stop calling him that eventually if he ignores it.

“A fish” the dark-haired boy answers the question, grabbing the blue crayon.

“You really like fishes, right, Haru-chan?” he seems amused about it “I think they are weird, with their fishy eyes and little teeth—oh! You draw really well, Haru-chan!”

On Haru’s piece of paper is drawn a little circular fish on the middle, it’s blue with scales and a little dot to show the eye. Haruka doesn’t think it’s really that spectacular, actually it looks more like a balloon. A sick balloon.

“I’m not that good” Makoto offers to the conversation. Wait, is this even a conversation?

The little brunette grabs a green crayon from his cup and starts to draw. Honestly, Haru can’t guess what in heaven Makoto is drawing. At first he thinks it’s a flower or a plant – he grabbed the green color after all – but when Makoto adds what it seems to be whiskers, Haru is completely lost.

“It’s a kitten” Makoto clarifies as if he has read Haru’s confused mind “I found one near my house. It’s white with green eyes, and its hair it’s really soft, Haru-chan”

Then why didn’t he choose a black crayon instead of green for his drawing? Mysteries of life, Haru supposes.

“It goes ‘meow~’ whenever I give it some milk”

And then Makoto starts to talk and talk about this fabulous kitten as he keeps drawing and drawing. He adds more kittens because maybe this kitten has little brothers and sisters, maybe they all live together happily near Makoto’s house, but only this white one is brave enough to visit him. And if that kitten is the only brave enough, maybe the kitten is actually a hero! Maybe the kitten defeated some evil dog wizard that cursed its little brothers and sisters, but thankfully the kitten was able to rescue them.

Haru is pretty sure kittens can’t be heroes and dogs can’t be wizards.

But he lets Makoto talk, even if he is surprised that someone so little can talk so much. By his part, Haruka draws some rocks, sand and some plants. His fish lives under the sea as any normal fish would do. His fish isn’t a hero or anything spectacular because his fish only wants to swim peacefully.

The class continues until the Miss announces that they have to go outside because it’s playtime. All the kids make a line and follow the Miss to the door, getting outside. There are playsets with slides, swings, a big sandbox and other things.

No little pools at sight though.

And what is worst, there are even more kids out here, and they are even louder and running even faster. But thankfully the sandbox has a free corner, so Haru goes and sits there. He is followed closely by Makoto, who also sits there with him.

“Haru-chan, how old are you?” he asks and Haru doesn’t answer, but shows him three fingers, just like his mother taught him to do so when asked “Oh! We are the same!”

Still listening to Makoto’s rambling, Haru starts to play with the sand drawing little circles with his fingertip. From time to time, he peeks a little towards Makoto who is digging a hole on the soft soil. How is it that Makoto doesn’t find him boring? And how is it that he can talk so much? But mainly how is that Haruka doesn’t think of him as annoying?

“You know, Haru-chan?” Makoto suddenly asks him, still digging “I was scared at first of coming here”

Haru stops drawing circles and fully sees the little brunette, who doesn’t stop his duty of excavating.

“When mommy said I would have to stay here without her for hours, I was really scared. I even cried a little” he confesses with a slight red blush on his face “I was afraid of…” he stops digging and looks at Haru with a soft smile “Of being alone”

After that, Makoto returns to his activity of digging.

“Were you scared, Haru-chan?”

The questioned analyzes his previous situation. What he felt first when he entered the room wasn’t fear, he is sure of that.

“No” he answers at the end.

“You are so brave, Haru-chan”

But Haru doesn’t think of himself as being brave.

The minutes pass by and suddenly the Miss is back and tells them to go back to the classroom.

A few hours later, class finally ends with a ring of the bell and soon enough they are outside again but this time they are waiting for their parents. In Haru’s case, he’s waiting for his mother.

“Is your mommy coming to pick you up, Haru-chan?” Makoto asks him and he nods as an answer “My mommy is also coming to pick me” he looks glad at that “She will be happy to know I had fun”

Did Makoto really have fun? All he did was following Haru around and talk endlessly. And Haru knows that he can be pretty boring to everyone else’s standards of fun. But if Makoto says so, Haru guesses he can believe him.

Makoto’s mother arrives first. She has long brown hair and a big wide smile when she spots Makoto next to Haru.

“Let’s go, Mako-chan” she offers him her hand and when he takes it, he waves Haru good bye.

“Bye bye, Haru-chan!”

“Oh? Mako-chan, is this your new friend?” she asks him.

“Yes! His name is Haru-chan, his favorite color is blue and he likes mackerel” Makoto looks really excited to talk about this new friend.

At that moment Haru can see a woman of long black hair and blue eyes, his mother, walking towards him also with a smile.

“Haruka, did you have fun?”

“Oh, are you Haruka-chan’s mom?” Makoto’s mother asks her.

“Ah, yes. I’m Ayumi Nanase, a pleasure to meet you” she makes a little bow and the other woman reciprocates with another little bow.

“I’m Hitomi Tachibana, and it seems my little Mako-chan befriended little Haruka-chan” she covered her smile with a hand, as if such thing is a secret.

“Is that so?” Ayumi’s eyes sparkle at the notice “That’s wonderful! Haruka can be a little bit too serious, so I was actually a bit worried for him” she looks at the child and pats him on the head gently.

“You know? We should exchange addresses so we could set play dates!” now her eyes are the ones sparkling.

To everyone’s surprise and delight both families live relatively close to each other, just a few blocks away. They even walk home together, both women keep talking about things that Haru doesn’t quite understand, but that’s fine because he doesn’t really care.

He’s grabbing his mother’s right hand and Makoto is holding his mother’s left hand, so they both are walking next to each other in between their moms. They are in silence, letting the two adults to talk. For a moment he looks at Makoto, who is with his face straight to the front.

But Haru guesses, once again, he stares too much because then Makoto is looking at him. Maybe Haruka has some kind of power to make people look at him. The little brunette smiles at him while closing his eyes.

Or maybe it’s Makoto who has a power to sense Haruka’s sight.

Haruka wonders if this is going to become an everyday thing.

These things that his mother insists so much at calling “playdates” with Makoto start to become a weekly thing every Saturday for the next year.

 

* * *

 

Makoto would come to his house and sometimes Haru would be the one going to Makoto’s house. The other’s house isn’t as big as Haru’s, and it’s more modern.

Makoto has tons of toys, being the majority of them building blocks because he likes them very much. They would build tall towers that later on Makoto would feel bad about destroying them. Sometimes they draw, sometimes they watch TV and sometimes they eat fruit.

When they are at Haru’s house though, it’s almost mandatory that the little pool will be filled with water. At first Makoto is a little hesitant at the idea, but with time he gets used to being wet almost all the time. Haruka would let Makoto bring little floating toys with him so they could play in the water. Makoto’s favorite is a little green boat.

“I had a weird dream, Haru-chan” Makoto says suddenly, watching the little boat float. Haru doesn’t respond, but by now Makoto knows that that means he can continue talking “I was a pirate”

That is weird indeed. Usually Makoto’s dreams are about kittens, cakes and parks.

They are on the little pool, sitting each one at one side of it. The sky is slowly getting orange by the second.

Haru is just sitting while Makoto has various toys around him. Even if the brunette insists on sharing his toys with Haru, he just plays with them for a while and then leaves them alone. He prefers to watch Makoto play because he often tells stories along with it.

“I was on my big ship. It was really, really big, Haru-chan” he waves wide his arms to show just how big the deal was “I was the only one inside of it, though, but I wasn’t scared!”

Makoto actually looks proud of being so brave inside his dream.

“But then…” the smile on his lips disappears “It got dark and I fell to the ocean” he stays quiet for a moment, but the light in his eyes come back a few seconds later “But you were there, Haru-chan! You were a mermaid!”

Now that is interesting.

“You saved me from the ocean and took me to a beach. You had a blue tail. It was pretty, but you wouldn’t let me touch it”

“Makoto!” a female voice calls his name and Ayumi soon appears by the door “Your mother called just now”

That means that Makoto will soon leave. That’s bad, Haruka really wants to hear the end of the dream.

“She said you are allowed to stay the night, Makoto” Ayumi declares when she’s close enough to crouch in front of the boys, with a wide smile “Your mom and dad will be busy tomorrow early in the morning, and asked me to take care of you. Isn’t that great, Makoto?”

The brunette is clearly happy and excited, everyone could see it on his smile, but he just nods quickly. Haru thinks it’s kind of funny and strange how Makoto can talk so much when they are alone, but immediately gets quiet when someone else is around.

“Alright!” Ayumi gets up and grabs two towels from a chair close to them “It’s time to go inside, boys, dinner is about to be ready and you still need to bath”

They get covered on the towels and are promptly taken to the bathtub that is already filled with lukewarm water. Haru looks at his mother questionly.

“I know, Haruka, I know” she is helping Makoto take off his short “You like the water cool, but tonight we have Makoto as a guest, don’t we?”

Haru supposes it’s alright then.

His mother quickly showers them with soap and shampoo, and finally leaves them by themselves once they are inside the tub.

“Your mom is really nice, Haru-chan”

Haru wouldn’t classify her as “nice”, but just about “normal”.

Half an hour later, they are already eating dinner. Haru’s favorite actually, mackerel with rice. And after dinner his mother gave them a candy to each of them. Haru is starting to think that it’s because Makoto is staying.

Maybe Makoto should stay more often.

They continue to play for a little more time in the living room before going to sleep, but stops when now Haruka’s father picks them up and takes them to his son’s bedroom. Two futons are placed on the floor. His father helps them to change into pajamas – Makoto has to borrow some from Haru – and with a good night kiss to each the adult exits the room, leaving both kids alone in the dark.

“It’s so dark, Haru-chan” Makoto says with a little voice.

“The lights are off” Haruka replies.

“I know, but…” Haruka can hear how the other is shuffling on his own futon “But it’s so dark” he now sounds nervous.

Maybe Makoto is afraid of the dark? Haruka has learnt that Makoto is afraid of many things and darkness wouldn’t be that surprising – it’s more surprising Makoto’s fear of ladybugs, for example –.

“Aren’t you scared, Haru-chan?” the tiny voice asks him in the middle of the darkness.

“No” he simply replies.

“You’re so brave, Haru-chan”

He isn’t brave, not at all, he just thinks darkness is harmless.

His mother’s words come into his mind. Makoto is a guest, his guest, and he should do something to calm him down, shouldn’t he?

So after moving he gets closer to Makoto.

“You can hang onto me” Haruka suggests “If you’re scared”

As soon as he finishes the sentence, he can feel a little hand creep to his futon and grab him by the t-shirt. Nothing too forceful, so it isn’t bothersome.

“I have a bear doll” Makoto’s voice surprises Haru once again “It’s white with little black eyes, his name is Ryota, and I sleep with him every night” a yawn is heard “He’s just as brave as you, Haru-chan”

Haruka doesn’t think bear dolls can be brave.

“Haru-chan”

With time, the dark-haired has learnt that Makoto really likes to say his name. And each time his name could mean different things. One time “Haru-chan” could mean “Hear me”, but another time it could mean “You’re so funny”.

This time it’s the first time in a while that Haruka doesn’t know what his name means.

“Yes, Makoto?”

“I really like you”

Haru doesn’t reply. Maybe because Makoto’s voice is so soft it actually made him enter in hypnosis. Maybe that’s why his stomach feels so weird right now.

 

* * *

 

It’s a sunny and really hot day for Haruka. And not only that, but his house is full of kids. The majority are his cousins or neighbors. Haru doesn’t talk to them that much – not before and not now – because he doesn’t see them that often. But, being honest, he wouldn’t talk to them that much even if he sees them every day.

But these things happen sometimes, parties at his house. And this one in particular it’s for his sixth birthday so he can’t really go hide somewhere – “They are ours guests, Haruka!” his mother says with a smile – but that doesn’t mean he’s really keen about all the attention he’s receiving.

At least there’s pineapple and mackerel.

What he is actually expecting is a certain kid that lives really close and is ridiculous how he isn’t here right now when he lives just a few blocks away.

Haruka is sitting at the dining table, eating some half-melted vanilla ice cream. He’s wearing a blue t-shirt with a star on the middle, brown shorts and long white socks. The doorbell rings with its musical tune and is his old grandma who goes to open the door, Haru follows her closely dodging the other kids that are running around.

“Good evening!” his grandma greets with a loud and happy voice “Ahhh, Mrs. Tachibana and little Makoto, there you are! We were wondering when you two would arrive! Come in, come in”

The old woman moves out of the doorway to let the people inside and there he is.

Makoto is wearing an orange t-shirt with long jeans. He’s carrying a present bag that he offers immediately after spotting Haru behind his grandma.

“Happy birthday, Haru-chan!”

“Thanks” Haruka replies after grabbing the present “Come in”

The brunette turns his face to his mother who nods at him with a smile.

“You can go, Mako-chan, I’ll stay here”

To that, Haruka starts to walk back at the dining room being closely followed by Makoto. The birthday boy places the present on the designated space for the presents and then goes to the kitchen.

“I’m sorry for coming late, Haru-chan” Makoto starts “But mom had some things to do first”

“It’s ok” Haru replies while he pushes a small chair to the fridge.

“There are a lot of kids this year”

“Just as last year” Haru opens the freezer, taking out the ice cream tin.

“Really? I don’t remember” Makoto giggles nervously at his lack of memory.

Placing the ice cream tin on the table, Haru grabs a bowl from the cupboard and starts to serve one ball of the treat on it, to finish it with a little spoon buried on the vanilla ice cream.

“The others have been asking for you” Haruka says and then sits on the chair he was sitting before being interrupted. Makoto follows his lead and starts to eat the ice cream from the new bowl.

“I see” Makoto looks nervous at the news.

Haruka knows Makoto is timid but he doesn’t understand why. If the others have been asking for him it’s because they like him being around, right? So the brunette shouldn’t worry about it. In fact, it’s Haru who sometimes worry about Makoto attracting too much people.

It’s no secret for anyone that Haruka prefers to be alone and most of the time people – both kids and adults – respect that wish, but when Makoto is added to the picture all of that change.

Makoto is bright, he’s kind and will laugh at silly jokes that Haru doesn’t find as funny as him. He often talks about kittens and sometimes about mermaids of blue shiny tails, and he’s really good at creating stories. For some reason people adore that, to the point that their alone time at school is interrupted almost daily.

It’s thanks to their playdates that Haruka has been able to have decent conversations with Makoto.

“Makoto!” a boy yells when he sees the guest sitting right there “You finally arrived!”

This kid is a cousin of Haruka, his name is Takeshi and is about the same age as him. Haruka most of the time finds him annoying because he’s too brusque, always challenging him to useless dares like seeing who runs the fastest, who can finish their ice cream first, and so on.

Takeshi gets closer to the two boys, sitting with them and watching directly to Makoto.

“I thought you wouldn’t come, Makoto” the boy says with a rowdy smile.

“Of course I would come” the brunette reply with a warm smile, but Haruka can recognize the nervousness in his voice.

“Hey! How about we compete to see who can go down the stairs the fastest!” Takeshi offers with a big grin, as if it is the brightest idea he has ever got.

“No” Haru replies.

“Then how about we see who can eat more cupcakes?!”

“No”

“Alright, how about—“

“No”

“Ugh, Haruka, you’re so boring!” Takeshi complains as he lowers his forehead to the table. Makoto just giggles “Makoto, you do want to do something fun, right?” the boy asks him, lifting his eyes to him.

“Uhm, yes, but I’m not sure if we should—“

“Oh, I got it!” Takeshi interrupts, again with that face of the brightest idea ever “Let’s play hide and seek”

The brunette turns his eyes to Haruka and he can see that Makoto actually wants to play that. The dark-haired thinks about it. It isn’t such a bad idea, he could hide with Makoto somewhere else and let Takeshi look for them. He just needs to think of a really hidden place so he can stay at peace with Makoto.

“Ok, let’s play that” Haruka agrees.

“Yes! Then you look for us!”

His cousin grabs Makoto by the wrist and pulls him while running, taking the brunette with him out of Haru’s sight.

Crap, this isn’t what he wanted.

Haru immediately gets up and runs behind them but the house is so full of people he easily loses their track.

His house isn’t that big but it also isn’t small, and it’s full of rooms and doors. Takeshi and Makoto could be anywhere at this moment, they could be even at the backyard. With a last sigh coming from his lungs, Haru starts to look for them.

He checks every room, one by one, and the annoyance in his little body begin to build up. Dumb Takeshi and his dumb ideas. Dumb Takeshi and him running away with Makoto.

Hours pass and Haruka can’t find them. He’s now pissed and mad at Takeshi, because it’s his fault that he’s spending his time looking for them. Just where on Earth are they? It’s too much to not having found them yet!

Just then, Haruka hears a noise, something similar to a giggle that he recognize as Takeshi’s, but when he turns around the corner the sound is already gone. Haruka’s mind then thinks of something.

That little idiot of Takeshi is moving around the house, that’s why Haru isn’t able to find them.

Running from where the sound was last heard, Haruka enters a room with a big closet. The place is silent and apparently no one has been there recently. Either way, he slowly walks inside while paying close attention to any sudden movement or sound.

The only place left to hide in the room is the closet, though, so Haruka opens it and is received by a grin.

“GAH! You found me!” Takeshi yells.

But Haruka isn’t interested on that, because Takeshi is sitting alone in that closet.

“Where is Makoto?” Haru demands to know.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” Takeshi gets out of the closet with a hop “I won’t tell you, you have to find him!”

“He’s been alone all this time?”

“Huh? Well, yes, it would be stupid to hide together, don’t you think?”

He doesn’t reply because he’s already running.

He needs to find Makoto.

He really, really needs to find Makoto.

If the kid has been alone all this time, he must be scared  and maybe even crying at this moment. Haruka is sure Takeshi told him to not get out of his hiding place so they could win against him, and he knows Makoto it's just that much of a push-over to blindly obey him. But where could the brunette be? Haru has looked everywhere in the house. Maybe he should just tell his mother or Makoto's mother to help him.

He passes in front of an alley but stops when he sees something out of the normal that he hadn't noticed before. The rug from that alley is moved. It's weird, though, because the dark-haired doesn't remember his father or mother being in this part of the house in all day. He then remembers it.

The storeroom.

Getting closer to the rug, he moves it away to discover a shallow handle coming from the floor. He promptly grabs it to open the little door, revealing some creaky stairs heading to a dark room.

Haru doesn't think it twice before going down the stairs.

The storeroom is a kind of big place his parents use to keep stuff. Old furniture, old books, even old clothes, everything could be in here. When Haru reaches the end of the stairs, he tries to turn on the lights but they don't won't cooperate, so he just continues walking with his hands in front of him and his memory as a guide.

The air is humid because it's underground.  Sometimes he thinks he hears something behind him but when he looks around there is nothing but himself. Is Makoto really here? This doesn't look like a place where Makoto could stand to be for so long.

"Makoto" Haruka decides to call him "Makoto, are you here?"

He doesn't get a respond. Surely Takeshi also told him to stay quiet at all times. Out of nowhere, his hands touch something big and hard, it has two handles, must be the old closet. He grabs both handles and with a deep breath he opens the closet.

"Makoto"

Haruka can't see to save his life, but he can clearly hear a soft breathing in front of him. Breathing that sounds like sobbing. He could recognize that sobbing anywhere in the world.

"Let's go, Makoto" he extends his hand to pat the kid's soft hair, but soon his hand is being hold by another little one.

"Even if I'm crying" Makoto's voice starts to talk in the middle of the darkness "I wasn't afraid, Haru-chan"

"It's ok, Makoto"

Haruka feels kind of weird having this conversation in the dark, because it looks like as if he is alone and talking with a spirit or something. But his hand feels the warm sensation coming from Makoto's.

"No, Haru-chan! I really wasn't afraid!"

"Did Takeshi tell you to not be a coward?"

Makoto doesn't respond. He knows Takeshi well enough to know that he has a really big mouth.

"You are not a coward, Makoto, and you wouldn't be even if you didn't stay here" Haru confirms.

"I knew you would come for me, Haru-chan"

His body is getting hotter for some reason, and the heat comes from his hand connected with Makoto. Maybe he's having a fever? Maybe Makoto is the one with a fever.

"I'm really happy when I'm with you, Haru-chan"

Is that soft voice again that makes his head enter in a weird state and his stomach feel just as strange.

"Me too, Makoto"

He can't see Makoto's face, but he can hear a gasp and feel how the brunette's hand tightens around his own.

Is at that specific moment that Haruka decides that he’s going to be together with Makoto.

Forever.

 

* * *

 

“Haru-chan?”

His eyes feel heavy in sleep when he hears his name being called.

“Haru-chan, wake up”

He doesn’t want to wake up, he’s pretty comfortable right now.

But everything change when he feels something big and soft on his forehead, removing his hair from there, and then a new sensation is added when something warm is placed there.

A kiss.

He opens his deep blue eyes and his sight is blurry at first, but when he finally focus them, he’s encountered with a big pair of green eyes that sparkled as the whole universe.

A pair of green eyes that belongs to this college student of name Makoto Tachibana.

They are lying together on a big futon. Clothes scattered around the small room, forgotten because of the hasty movements and games that befallen the night before.

“Haru-chan, it’s time to get up” the man of brown hair says with a smile on his lips. Smile Haru loves from the deepest corners of his heart.

“Stop the chan” the dark-haired man murmurs while lifting his hand and plastering it on Makoto’s face, who just freely laughs but then grabs the hand, interlacing their fingers.

“Good morning, Haru”

A pair of green eyes which are always looking for the blue ones. Lips that are always smiling and if they are not smiling, they are kissing his skin softly. And warm hands that touch his body as if it is perfection reborn.

That’s what Makoto physically is.

“Are you still sleepy?” the brunette laughs and places more little kisses all around Haruka’s face.

A soft voice that always makes him enter in that comfortable zone. Gorgeous laughs that make his stomach bubble in joy. Gentleness that always cares for his well-being. And words that are full of undying love for him.

That’s what Makoto's soul is.

Haruka passes both his arms under Makoto’s, holding him close so he can nudge his nose against the taller’s man naked chest.

“We can’t stay the whole day on the futon, Haru” but he still caresses his companion’s back up and down.

“We can always try”

And with that, Makoto lets go a resigned – and yet happy – sigh from his lips and Haruka knows he has won his way.

“I love you, Haru”

Haru feels Makoto’s hand passing through his dark hair, stroking each lock with the adoration each one deserves.

“I love you too, Makoto”

Such words are so easy to say, they just flow on their own out of his system and Haru knows it’s because more truthful words couldn’t possibly exist in this world, or even this dimension.

 

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me as AleishaDreams @ Tumblr!


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